In various outdoor activities, it is known to provide outerwear which protects the wearer from the weather. Protecting the wearer from the weather however limits the breathability of the garment and accordingly it is known to provide various forms of ventilation to the garment as described in prior U.S. Pat. No. 7,284,282 by Bay; U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,353 by van der Sleesen; U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,336 by Golde; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,510 by Bay et al. In each instance, the ventilation requires a large portion of the garment to incorporate multiple layers for ventilation between the layers resulting in a costly construction simply for the purpose of ventilation. Furthermore, none of the prior art discloses suitable means for blocking moisture from precipitation in reaching the user when the vents are in an open position. Accordingly, the vents are only intended to be open when there is no precipitation, however, when precipitation is present the wearer is prevented from ventilating the garment without becoming wet.
US patent application 2008/0184454 by Collier discloses a further variation of a vented apparel in which ventilation openings in inner and outer layers are offset from one another which provides some resistance to moisture penetrating from the outer layer to the inner layer. Even if moisture is not directly transmitted through to the user however there is no means to prevent user contact with the inner layer once the inner layer becomes saturated with moisture so that the user would typically still become wet if the vent is in an open condition during precipitation.